BSFA awards 2014

Over the last few years, in the interests both of keeping up to date with what’s new and good and being a responsible voter, I’ve attempted to read all the fiction nominees for the BSFA awards. I’ve had varying degrees of success. Sometimes I’ve read some of the novels already, other years I’ve got five new books to read before a deadline that varies every year depending on the date of Easter.

With this year’s shortlist published today, success in 2014 looks like a possibility. Easter is late and I’ve read one and a half of the novel nominees already. Even better, they look like a pretty varied selection, so the whole thing should be an enjoyable experience.

More interesting, perhaps, is the short fiction list. There are only four stories on the shortlist this year. All of them, notably, by women and, with the exception of Nina Allan’s Spin, all by writers that are new to me.